This week we're very lucky to have the director of A24's new film Never Goin' Back, Augustine Frizzell. She's on the show to talk with April Wolfe about the Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski. April and her discuss the friendship on screen between Jeff Bridge's character 'The Dude' and John Goodman's 'Walter', and how that relationship is the emotional center of the film. Augustine relates this to the friendship she crafted in her film, and how writing for those characters was walking a fine line between pathetic and endearing. They also compare these two films in terms of capturing the essence of a city; Los Angeles for The Big Lebowski and Dallas for Never Goin' Back. Plus, Augustine has a pretty fascinating story of how she came to filmmaking after being a broke, single Mom at the age of eighteen. And she explains how those life experiences helped shape her debut film.

This week, Guy Branum, Margaret Wappler and Karen Tongson watched the Roseanne reboot and they have feelings about it. Strong feelings.

Margaret Wappler is all about Glynn Washington’s podcast Heaven’s Gate which features interviews and stories of surviving members of the deadly cult. The final season of The Americans
kicked off last week with the episode Dead Hand and Karen savors the way it used music. Guy is all about the Netflix show On the Block.

With the Roseanne reboot smashing all kinds of viewing records, the panel weighs in on what it is about the show that gives it such a broad appeal. They also look at why Roseanne is problematic and why the show’s take on gender non-conformity may not be as culturally relevant as the show’s setting would have audiences believe.